THIS BLOG IS ABOUT 7" RECORDS ONLY. YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MANY. EVERY SONG IS CONVERTED TO MP3 FROM MY PERSONAL 45 COLLECTION, AND THERE'S NOT ONE THAT I WOULDN'T RECOMMEND YOU SEEKING OUT. ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDERS WHO DON'T WANT THEIR MUSIC HEARD HERE JUST LET ME KNOW, AND DOWN IT WILL COME. CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE.

Archive for the ‘The Johnny Otis Show’ Category

Later issued as the more familiar ‘Wille And The Hand Jive’, whatever that’s meant to mean, this original pressing went by ‘The Johnny Otis Hand Jive’. Either way, it wasn’t until many years later did I realize where the blueprint for The Strangeloves sound originated. And that’s okay, both have co-existed just fine in the record collection.

I think this was known as race music in it’s day, despite Johnny Otis himself being a white guy. Greek to be exact. Quite a compliment then.

Seems The Johnny Otis Show’s sell by date had past by ’69, when their only Okeh release, ‘The Watts Breakaway’ hit a small smattering of record store shelves that summer. Despite fun filled lyrics like “I’m the duckin-est dodgin-est, dancin-est cat you ever knew”, the single’s theme, a new dance, was most likely considered dreadfully out of step with the times, relegating it to our favorite place in record colletordom, a flop and hard to find.

Turning up this seemingly factory fresh copy, with it’s sparking new and unblemished Okeh stock sleeve, in a $1 box full of 80′s hits was terribly baffling. How did it get there? And where are all the other records it’s been coexisting with for around four decades? Never content I guess.